Substrate holding apparatus, and inspection or processing apparatus

ABSTRACT

In order to enable high accuracy positioning and strong pressing of a substrate, the present invention provides a substrate holding apparatus including: a rotating bed having an inclined surface supporting a lower side of an outer circumferential side surface of the substrate, which bed rotates on a normal line of the substrate as the rotation axis together with the substrate; a position restriction unit rotating together with the rotating bed and restricting the substrate in a predetermined position on the rotating bed by pressing a plurality of points on the circumference on an upper side of the outer circumferential side surface of the substrate prior to the rotation; and a pressing unit rotating together with the rotating bed and pressing the substrate against the inclined surface by pressing a plurality of points on the upper side of the outer circumferential side surface of the substrate during the rotation.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a substrate holding apparatus whichrotates together with a substrate while supporting an outercircumferential side surface of the substrate, and an inspection orprocessing apparatus of a substrate using this substrate holdingapparatus.

2. Description of Related Art

In a manufacturing process of a product such as a semiconductor device,a thin display and a magnetic disk, a substrate such as a semiconductorwafer, a glass substrate and a disk substrate is processed, and theprocessed substrate is inspected. In many cases, the processing and theinspection of the substrate are performed while rotating the substrate.For example, in surface inspection for determining whether a defect suchas a flaw or a foreign material is present on a surface of thesemiconductor wafer or not, the inspection light scans the surface ofthe semiconductor wafer in a spiral manner by moving an irradiationregion of the inspection light in a radial direction while rotating thesemiconductor wafer, to detect the defect or the foreign material on theentire surface of the semiconductor wafer in a short time.

Moreover, in the case of the product such as a semiconductor device, athin display and a magnetic disk, there is a tendency to control andreduce a defect and a foreign material generated also on a backside ofthe substrate with miniaturization of a circuit pattern, etc. For thisreason, in the manufacturing process thereof, it is necessary to processand inspect the substrate in a non-contact state, not only on the frontsurface but also on the backside of the substrate.

Accordingly, a substrate holding apparatus which rotates the substratein a non-contacting state with respect to the front surface and thebackside thereof has been proposed (for example, see Paragraphs0024-0039 and FIGS. 1-4 of JP-A-2004-253756).

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In a conventional substrate holding apparatus, in order to make therotation of a substrate smooth, the substrate is positioned on thesubstrate holding apparatus so that a normal line of the substratepassing through the center of gravity of the substrate coincides withthe rotation axis of the substrate holding apparatus. Then, there is atendency for a circuit pattern, etc. to be miniaturized, and in order tomaintain the repeatability of processing and inspection, it has beenconsidered that it is necessary to improve the positioning accuracy. Forexample, in the case of a miniaturized circuit pattern, in order todetermine on which pattern a foreign material is positioned, it isnecessary to improve the accuracy of the coordinate of the foreignmaterial.

In addition, the conventional substrate holding apparatus is not incontact with the backside of the substrate, but alternatively is incontact with a lower side of the rounded outer circumferential sidesurface of the substrate to support the substrate. The substrate is incontact with an inclined surface of the substrate holding apparatus,which surface is depressed toward the rotation center. Therefore, thesubstrate is in a horizontal position only when the normal line of thesubstrate passing through the center of gravity of the substratecoincides with the rotation axis of the substrate holding apparatus, andif those do not coincide with each other even slightly, the substratewill tilt. When an optical device is used for the inspection, thedistance between the substrate and the optical device will vary duringone revolution. The width of the variation becomes larger than the depthof focus of the optical device, which depth has been reducedcorresponding to miniaturization of a pattern, and, it has beenconsidered that this degrades the sensitivity of the optical device.

In addition, the substrate may be warped in the manufacturing process,due to a heating process, or formation of a metal film. In theconventional substrate holding apparatus, the substrate is held whilebeing warped, since the substrate holding apparatus is not in contactwith the front surface and the backside of the substrate. Since thiswarping also causes variation of the distance between the substrate andthe optical device, the flatness of the substrate has been improved byblowing a gas with a high cleanliness factor to the backside of thesubstrate in order to correct the warping. In the future, if the heatprocessing becomes used frequently or a large number of metal filmsbecome formed in a manufacturing process, it is considered that thewarping becomes larger, and the blowing for correcting it will becomealso strong. In order to prevent the substrate from floating up by theblowing, it is considered that stronger force is necessary to press thesubstrate against the inclined surface which supports the substrate.

In view of the above, the objects of the present invention is to providea substrate holding apparatus enabling highly accurate positioning andstrong pressing of the substrate to solve the above mentioned problems,and to provide an inspection or processing apparatus using thissubstrate holding apparatus.

In order to solve the above problems, the substrate holding apparatusaccording to the present invention is characterized by including: arotating bed; a position restriction unit which rotates together withthe rotating bed and restricts the substrate in a predetermined positionon the rotating bed by pressing a plurality of points on thecircumference on an upper side of an outer circumferential side surfaceon the substrate prior to the rotation; and a pressing unit whichrotates together with the rotating bed and presses the substrate againstthe inclined surface by pressing a plurality of points on thecircumference on the upper side during the rotation. In addition, theinspection or processing apparatus is characterized by performing theinspection or the processing of the substrate using such a substrateholding apparatus while rotating the substrate.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide asubstrate holding apparatus enabling high accuracy positioning andstrong pressing of a substrate, and further, provide an inspection orprocessing apparatus using this substrate holding apparatus.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent from the following description of the embodiments of theinvention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a configuration view of an inspection apparatus according toan embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a plane view of a substrate holding apparatus according to theembodiment;

FIG. 3A is a cross-sectional view in the A-A direction of FIG. 2 in anun-restricting state;

FIG. 3B is a cross-sectional view in the A-A direction of FIG. 2 in arestricting state;

FIG. 4A is a cross-sectional view of a position restriction unit of thesubstrate holding apparatus in an un-restricting state;

FIG. 4B is a cross-sectional view of the position restriction unit ofthe substrate holding apparatus in a restricting state;

FIG. 4C is a cross-sectional view of the position restriction unit ofthe substrate holding apparatus in a restricting and high speed rotationstate;

FIG. 5A is a cross-sectional view in the B-B direction of FIG. 2 in anun-pressing state;

FIG. 5B is a cross-sectional view in the B-B direction of FIG. 2 in apressing state;

FIG. 6A is a cross-sectional view of a pressing unit of the substrateholding apparatus in an un-pressing state; and

FIG. 6B is a cross-sectional view of the pressing unit of the substrateholding apparatus in a pressing state.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detailwith reference to the drawings appropriately. In addition, a common partis denoted by the same reference numeral in the respective drawings, toeliminate duplicate explanation.

An inspection or processing apparatus according to an embodiment of thepresent invention inspects or processes a substrate such as asemiconductor wafer, a glass substrate and a disk substrate, in amanufacturing process of a product such as a semiconductor device, athin display and a magnetic disk. As an inspection apparatus, it is usedfor a surface inspection apparatus which inspects the substrate fordefects or foreign materials thereon while rotating the substrate, aparticle counter or the like. As a processing apparatus, it is used fora liquid chemical processing apparatus for subjecting the substrate toliquid chemical processing, cleaning and drying while rotating thesubstrate, a spin coater for coating, developing and releasing of aresist or the like. In the following descriptions, a semiconductor waferis mainly supposed as a substrate, and a surface inspection apparatus ismainly supposed as an inspection or processing apparatus.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the inspection apparatus (surface inspectionapparatus) 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention iscomposed of an inspection section 2 for directly inspecting a substrate(a semiconductor wafer) 5, a substrate transferring robot 6, and acassette table 8. To the cassette table 8, a cassette 7 storing aplurality of substrates 5 therein is transferred. In the cassette 7, theplurality of substrates 5 are stored at even intervals in the depthdirection of the drawing. When replacing the inspection apparatus 1 by aprocessing apparatus, the inspection section 2 may be replaced by aprocessing section for directly performing processing.

The inspection section 2 is provided with a substrate holding apparatus3. The substrate holding apparatus 3 is provided with a rotatablerotating bed 4. The substrate transferring robot 6 transfers thesubstrate 5 from the cassette 7 onto the rotating bed 4, and transfersthe substrate 5 from the rotating bed 4 onto the cassette 7.

A light-projecting system and a light-receiving system (which are notshown in the drawing) are disposed above the rotating bed 4. Thelight-projecting system radiates a light beam such as a laser light on asurface of the substrate 5 mounted on the rotating bed 4. By linearlytransferring the substrate holding apparatus 3 in a radial direction ofthe substrate 5 while rotating the substrate 5 by the rotating bed 4,the light beam radiated from the light-projecting system scans thesurface of the substrate 5 in a spiral manner. The light-receivingsystem detects a reflected light or a scattered light from the surfaceof the substrate 5. A detected signal from the light-receiving system isprocessed by an image signal processing device (not shown) so that aforeign material existing on the surface of the substrate 5 is detected.

As shown in FIG. 2, the substrate holding apparatus 3 includes: arotating bed 4 which rotates together with the substrate 5; positionrestriction units 11 which rotate together with the rotating bed 4, andare arranged so as to extend radially in six directions at evenintervals and at even angles, from the center of the rotating bed 4 toan outer circumference thereof; and six pressing units which rotatetogether with the rotating bed 4, and are arranged radially at evenintervals and at even angles in a region of the rotating bed 4 betweenthe position restriction units 11, which region the outer circumferenceof the rotating bed 4.

The outer circumference of the rotating bed 4 is provided with a tiltingbed 10 having an inclined surface 9 for supporting a lower side of arounded outer circumferential side surface of the substrate 5. In therotating bed 4, grooves 34 and grooves 44 are formed radially, so thatthe position restriction units 11 are formed in the grooves 34 and thepressing units 12 are formed in the grooves 44.

The position restriction unit 11 can hold the substrate 5 in apredetermined position on the rotating bed 4 prior to rotation. As apredetermined position, a position where a normal line of the substrate5 passing through the center of gravity of the substrate 5 coincideswith the rotation axis of the substrate holding apparatus 3 is set inorder to smoothly rotate the substrate 5. In addition, when the positionof the center of gravity of the substrate 5 is hardly determined due toan orientation flat thereof, the center of the substrate 5 may be usedinstead of the center of gravity thereof. In this manner, by retainingthe substrate 5 at a predetermined position on the rotating bed 4, thesubstrate can be positioned on the substrate holding apparatus. Thepressing unit 12 presses the substrate 5 against the inclined surface 9during rotation. In this manner, the position restriction unit 11 isspecialized in positioning, and the pressing unit is specialized inpressing. In addition, the center of the position restriction unit 11 isprovided with a displacing unit 17. The displacing unit 17 is displacedby operation from the outside of the substrate holding apparatus 3, andthe position restriction units 11 perform positioning by utilizing thisdisplacement as driving force.

Hereinafter, the position restriction unit 11 and the pressing unit 12will be described in detail. First, the position restriction unit 11will be described.

As shown in FIG. 3A, the rotating bed 4 is attached to a spindle 18, androtated around a rotation axis 29 by rotation of a motor (not shown)connected to the spindle 18. The inclined surface 9 of the tilting bed10 is adapted to come down as the inclined surface 9 approaches to therotation center through which the rotation axis 29 passes. The spindle18 is provided with an air passage 19. Using an air pump (not shown),compressed air is supplied or exhausted through the air passage 19.

As shown in FIGS. 3A and 4A, in each groove 34, a claw 39 is attached tothe vicinity of the outer circumference of the rotating bed 4 by a pin37 which works as a fulcrum. One end of the shaft 32 is connected to thepower point of the claw 39 by a pin 38, in each groove 34. The shaft 32is arranged radially from the rotation center passing through therotation axis 29. A restriction movable piece 15 is connected to theother end of the shaft 32.

The shaft 32 is slidably supported by shaft receivers 33 fixed to therotating bed 4, and biased toward the rotation center of the rotationaxis 29 of the rotating bed 4 by a restriction elastic body 16 insertedbetween a retaining ring 35 fixed to the shaft 32 and one of the shaftreceiver 33. A spring can be used as the restriction elastic body 16,however, it may be also possible to use not only elastic force of thespring, but also elastic force of rubber, or repulsive force of a magnetas long as such biasing is achieved.

A perforated hole is formed in the restriction movable piece 15, and theshaft 32 is inserted in the perforated hole. The diameter of the tip ofthe shaft 32 is made smaller than those of the other portions of theshaft, and a spring 36 is inserted so as to be caught by a step formedthereby. The shaft 32 is slidably supported by a slider 40 fixed to therestriction movable piece 15. If the restriction movable piece 15 isdisplaced into the horizontal direction toward the claw 39, the spring36 is compressed so that the shaft 32 can be biased to be pushed towardthe claw 39 in a horizontal direction with the biasing force inproportion to the compression amount.

As shown in FIG. 4A, the restriction movable piece 15 is provided with aroller 31 on an opposite side to the shaft 32. The roller 31 rolls on atapered plane 20 a of an elevating plate 20 which is displaced in anup-and-down direction by the displacing unit 17, in synchronization withthe displacement of the elevating plate 20. This causes the up-and-downdisplacement of the elevating plate 20 to be converted into thehorizontal displacement of the restriction movable piece 15.

The displacing unit 17 includes: a cover 22 having an air port 23communicating with the air passage 19 in FIG. 3A; a case 21 covering theinterior along with the cover 22; a diaphragm 27 moving up-and-down bythe pressure of compressed air; a retaining ring 28 stopping thediaphragm 27; a stopper 25 moving up-and-down together with thediaphragm 27; a bushing 24 supporting the stopper 25 so as to beslidable in the up-and-down direction; a spring 26 which is compressedas the stopper 25 ascends and biases the stopper 25 so as to descend, sothat the diaphragm 27 and the stopper 25 are interlocked; and theelevating plate 20 fixed to the stopper 25.

The outer circumference of the substrate 5 is chamfered so that theouter circumferential side surface 51 of the substrate 5 is rounded,protruded, and swollen. The inclined surface 9 of the tilting bed 10supports the lower side 52 of the outer circumferential side surface 51of the substrate 5.

FIGS. 3A and 4A show a state where the substrate 5 is not restricted inthe predetermined position by the claw 39 of the position restrictionunit 11. The compressed air is supplied into the air channel 19, and thediaphragm 27 is pressed by the compressed air so as to be convexupwardly, so that the central part of the diaphragm 27 is ascended. Inaccordance with this ascent, the stopper 25 and the elevating plate 20are ascended. By the biasing force of the restriction elastic body 16,the roller 31 rolls into a space formed after the elevating plate 20 isascended, and the restriction movable piece 15 moves toward the rotationcenter of the rotation axis 29 of the rotating bed 4. The shaft 32 alsomoves toward the rotation center. The lower portion of the claw 39 ismoved toward the rotation center, and the upper portion of the claw 39is moved backward from the rotation center. Since the upper portion ofthe claw 39 is moved backward from the rotation center, the claw 39becomes in a so-called open state, resulting in an un-restricted stateof the substrate 5. In the un-restricted state, it is possible to mountthe substrate 5 on the rotating bed 4 and to take out the substrate 5from the rotating bed 4 by the substrate transferring robot 6, whilestopping rotation of the rotating bed 4.

FIGS. 3B and 4B show a state where the substrate 5 is restricted by theclaw 39 of the position restriction unit 11 in the predeterminedposition. The compressed air is exhausted through the air passage 19,and therefore the diaphragm 27 becomes flat. The stopper 25 and theelevating plate 20 are descended by the biasing force of the spring 26,so that the elevating plate 20 is brought into contact with the case 21.The roller 31 rolls out from the space closed by descent of theelevating plate 20, and the restriction movable piece 15 is moved in adirection away from the rotation center of the rotation axis 29 of therotating bed 4. The shaft 32 is also moved in the direction away fromthe rotation center. The lower portion of the claw 39 is moved in thedirection away from the rotation center, and the upper portion of theclaw 39 is moved in a direction toward the rotation center. By the factthat the upper portion of the claw 39 is moved in the direction towardthe rotation center, the claw 39 becomes in a so-called closed state,and pushes a plurality of positions on the circumference of the upperside 53 of the outer circumferential side surface 51 prior to therotation. The contact point of the claws 39 contacting with the upperside 53 of the outer circumferential side surface 51 is a so-calledpoint of action, and set on a lower side of a region of the upper side53 of the outer circumferential side surface 51. That is, the angle θ1formed by a contact surface of the claw 39 pressing the upper side 53 ofthe outer circumferential side surface 51 and the rotation axis 29,which angle is equal to or smaller than 90°, is set to be equal to orsmaller than 60° and preferably set to be equal to or smaller than 30°.Moreover, the angle θ10 formed by the contact surface of the claw 39 andthe inclined surface 9 of the tilting bed 10 is set to be equal to orgreater than 90°.

Since the claw 39 is in contact with and presses the upper side 53 ofthe outer circumferential side surface 51 of the substrate 5 in thismanner, the substrate 5 can be pressed in a direction toward therotation center, without pressing the substrate 5 strongly against thetilting bed 10 by the claw 39. Since the substrate 5 is not pressedstrongly against the tilting bed 10, strong static frictional force anddynamic frictional force do not occur between the substrate 5 and thetilting bed 10, and thus the substrate 5 can be moved more easily andsurely just by a pushing amount by pushing the substrate 5 in thedirection toward the rotation center. Since the pressing issimultaneously performed in the six directions from the outercircumferential side surface of the rotating bed 4 toward the rotationcenter as shown in FIG. 2, the substrate 5 can be reliably moved so thatthe substrate 5 is in the predetermined position, namely, the center ofthe substrate 5 coincides with the rotation center, which enables highaccuracy positioning. As a result, the substrate 5 can be restricted inthe predetermined position with high accuracy.

When the substrate 5 is in a restricted state, the substrate 5 can bealso rotated together with the rotating bed 4 by rotating the rotatingbed 4. Since the substrate 5 is not pressed against the tilting bed 10with strong force, air blowing from a backside of the substrate 5 forcorrecting the warping of the substrate 5 has not yet been performed.The substrate holding apparatus 3 can control the un-restricting andrestricting of the substrate 5 by supplying and exhausting thecompressed air from the outside of the substrate holding apparatus 3.

FIG. 4C shows a state where the rotating bed 4 and the substrate 5 arerotated at a high speed while the substrate 5 is restricted in thepredetermined position by the claws 39 of the position restriction units11. The high speed rotation causes centrifugal force acting on therestriction movable piece 15 of the position restriction unit 11rotating together with the rotating bed 4, and the restriction movablepiece 15 is moved in the direction toward the claw 39 and away from theelevating plate 20. The shaft 32 is also moved in the direction furtheraway from the rotation center as compared to the case in FIG. 4B. Thelower portion of the claw 39 is moved in the direction away from therotation center, and the upper portion of the claw 39 is moved in adirection further toward the rotation center as compared to the case inFIG. 4B. The movement of the upper portion of the claw 39 toward therotation center enables the claw 39 to restrict the substrate 5 in thepredetermined position by stronger force. Since the restricting force isoriginated from the centrifugal force, the restricting force becomeslarger in proportion to the rotation speed. This means that thesubstrate 5 can be restricted surely because, even if the center of thesubstrate 5 is slightly shifted from the rotation center, and thecentrifugal force due to high speed rotation acts on the substrate 5,and further, even if the centrifugal force acting on the substrate 5 isincreased by increase in rotation speed, the force restricting thesubstrate 5 in the predetermined position is also increased.

In addition, since the substrate 5 is a rigid body in general, thesubstrate 5 cannot be visibly compressed in the direction toward therotation center as shown by the change from FIG. 4B to FIG. 4C.Alternatively, the spring 36 in the restriction movable piece 15 iscompressed. By the biasing force of the compressed spring 36, the shaft32 is pressed in the direction away from the rotation center, the lowerportion of the claw 39 is also pressed in the direction away from therotation center, and finally the upper portion of the claw 39 can pressthe substrate 5 in the direction toward the rotation center with forcewhich is proportional to the rotation speed.

The above describes the position restriction unit 11 in detail.Hereinafter, the pressing unit 12 will be described.

As shown in FIGS. 5A and 6A, a claw 49 is attached in the groove 44 by apin 47 acting as a power point near the outer circumference of therotating bed 4. The power point of the claw 49 is connected to one endof a shaft 42 by a pin 48. The shaft 42 is arranged radially from therotation center through which the rotation axis 29 passes. A pressingmovable piece 13 is connected to the other end of the shaft 42.

The shaft 42 is slidably supported by shaft receivers 43 fixed to therotating bed 4 and biased in a direction toward the rotation center ofthe rotation axis 29 of the rotating bed 4 by a pressing elastic body 14inserted between a retaining ring 45 fixed to the shaft 42 and the shaftreceiver 43. Although a spring may be used as the pressing elastic body14, it may be possible to utilize not only elastic force of the springbut also elastic force of rubber, or repulsive force of a magnet as longas such biasing can be achieved.

A perforated hole is formed in the pressing movable piece 13, and theshaft 42 is inserted in the perforated hole. The diameter of the tip ofthe shaft 42 is made smaller than those of the other portions of theshaft, and a spring 46 is inserted so as to be caught by a step formedthereby. The shaft 42 is slidably supported by a slider 50 fixed to thepressing movable piece 13. If the pressing movable piece 13 is displacedinto the horizontal direction toward the claw 49, the spring 46 iscompressed so that the shaft 42 can be biased to be pushed in thedirection toward the claw 49 with the biasing force in proportion to thecompression amount.

FIGS. 5A and 6A show a state where the substrate 5 is not pressedagainst the tilting bed 10 by the claw 49 of the pressing unit 12. Inthe state, the rotating bed 4 is not rotated, or is rotated at a lowspeed. The position restriction unit 11 may be in a state where thesubstrate 5 is not restricted, or in a state where the substrate 5 isrestricted.

By the biasing force of the pressing elastic body 14, the pressingmovable piece 13 is moved in the direction toward the rotation center ofthe rotation axis 29 of the rotating bed 4, and pressed against a stepof the rotating bed 4. The shaft 42 is also moved in the directiontoward the rotation center. The lower portion of the claw 49 is moved inthe direction toward the rotation center, and the upper portion of theclaw 49 is moved in a direction away from the rotation center. Since theupper portion of the claw 49 is moved in the direction away from therotation center, the claw 49 becomes in a so called open state,resulting in a state where the substrate 5 is not pressed against thetilting bed 10. In the un-pressed state, if the rotating bed 4 is notrotated, and the position restriction unit 11 is also in anun-restricted state, it is possible to mount the substrate 5 on therotating bed 4 by the substrate transferring robot 6, and to take outthe substrate 5 from the rotating bed 4. Moreover, even in theun-pressed state, it is possible to rotate the rotating bed 4 whilecausing the position restriction unit 11 to be in the restricted state.

FIGS. 5B and 6B show a state where the substrate 5 is pressed againstthe tilting bed 10 by the claw 49 of the pressing unit 12. In thepressed state, the rotating bed 4 is rotated together with the substrate5 at a high rotation speed while the position restriction unit 11 causesthe substrate 5 to be in the restricted state. Since the rotating bed 4is rotated at a high speed, centrifugal force acts on the pressingmovable piece 13 of the pressing unit 12, and the pressing movable piece13 is moved in the direction away from the step of the rotating bed 4and in the direction toward the claw 49. The shaft 42 is also moved inthe direction away from the rotation center. The lower portion of theclaw 49 is moved in the direction away from the rotation center, and theupper portion of the claw 49 is moved in the direction toward therotation center. Since the upper portion of the claws 49 is moved in thedirection toward the rotation center, the claw 49 becomes in a so-calledclosed state, and pushes a plurality of positions on the circumferenceof the upper side 53 of the outer circumferential side surface 51 of thesubstrate during the rotation. The contact point of the claws 49contacting with the upper side 53 of the outer circumferential sidesurface 51 becomes a point of action, and is set in an upper portion ofa region of the upper side 53, which contact point is higher in levelthan that of the contact point of the claws 39 of the positionrestriction units 11. In other words, the angle θ2 formed by a contactsurface of the claw 49 pressing the upper side 53 of the outercircumferential side surface 51 and the rotation axis 29, which is equalto or smaller than 90°, is greater than 60°. Moreover, the angle θ20formed by the contact surface of the claw 49 and the inclined surface 9of the tilting bed 10 is set to be smaller than 90°, and is smaller thanthe angle θ10 formed by the contact surface of the claw 39 of theposition restriction unit 11 and the tilted surface 9 of the tilting bed10.

Since the claw 49 is in contact with and presses the upper side 53 ofthe outer circumferential side surface 51 of the substrate 5 in thismanner, the substrate 5 can be strongly pressed against the tilting bed10 by the claw 49. By pressing the substrate 5 strongly against thetilting bed 10, strong static frictional force and dynamic frictionalforce are caused between the substrate 5 and the tilting bed 10,whereby, even if the substrate 5 is pressed in the direction toward therotation center, the substrate 5 hardly moves while sliding on thetilting bed 10. In other words, even in the case of high speed rotation,it is possible to maintain high accuracy positioning by the positionrestriction unit 11. Moreover, since the substrate 5 is strongly pressedagainst the tilting bed 10, air can be brown on the substrate 5 from thebackside thereof in order to correct the warping of the substrate 5.Since this pressing force is originated from the centrifugal force ofthe rotation, the pressing force can be made larger in proportion to therotation speed, the weight of the pressing movable piece 13 and thedistance of the pressing movable piece 13 from the rotation center,which allows the pressing force to be set in accordance with thestrength of air blowing.

Since the pressing unit 12 does not have a mechanism controlled bycompressed air from the outside as compared to the case of the positionrestriction unit 11, the pressing unit 12 can be miniaturized andarranged on the rotating bed 4 in a space formed after arranging theposition restriction units 11.

In addition, when the centrifugal force acting on the pressing movablepiece 13 becomes larger, the spring 46 inside the movable piece 13 iscompressed. By the biasing force of the compressed spring 46, the shaft42 is pushed in the direction away from the rotation center, the lowerportion of the claw 49 is also pressed in the direction away from therotation center, and finally the upper portion of the claw 49 can pressthe substrate 5 in the direction toward the rotation center with forcewhich is proportional to the rotation speed.

In this manner, positioning is performed by restricting the substrate 5using the position restriction unit 11; by rotating the rotating bed 4together with the substrate 5, the substrate 5 is pressed against therotating bed 4 using the pressing unit 12 by the centrifugal force ofthe rotation; the substrate 5 is corrected by blowing air from thebackside thereof; and inspection of the substrate 5 is performed at theinspection section 2. When the inspection is completed, the air blowingfor correction is stopped, and the rotation is stopped. By stoppage ofthe rotation, the position restriction unit 11 becomes in the state ofFIG. 4B from the state of FIG. 4C, and the pressing unit 12 becomes inthe state of FIG. 5A from the state of FIG. 5B. Since the centrifugalforce does not act thereon, the pressing elastic body 14 causes thepressing movable piece 13 to move back, and releases the substrate 5from the pressing. Finally, by supplying compressed air into thedisplacing unit 17, the position restriction unit 11 becomes in thestate of FIG. 3A from the state of FIG. 3B, and the restriction elasticbody 16 causes the restriction movable piece 15 to move back andreleases the substrate 5 from the restriction in the predeterminedposition. Accordingly, the substrate 5 can be transferred from therotating bed 4 to the cassette 7 by the substrate transferring robot 6.

According to the present embodiment, since the substrate holdingapparatus 3 is brought into contact only with the outer circumferentialside surface of the substrate 5 without being brought into contact withthe front surface and the backside of the substrate 5, pollution of thesubstrate 5 can be reduced. Furthermore, high accuracy positioning andstrong pressing of the substrate can be achieved.

It should be further understood by those skilled in the art thatalthough the foregoing description has been made on embodiments of theinvention, the invention is not limited thereto and various changes andmodifications may be made without departing from the spirit of theinvention and the scope of the appended claims.

1. A substrate holding apparatus, comprising: a rotating bed includingan inclined surface for supporting a lower side of an outercircumferential side surface of a substrate, the rotating bed rotatingon a normal line of the substrate as a rotation axis together with thesubstrate; a position restriction unit rotating together with therotating bed and restricting the substrate in a predetermined positionon the rotating bed by pressing a plurality of points on thecircumference on an upper side of the outer circumferential side surfaceof the substrate prior to the rotation; and a pressing unit rotatingtogether with the rotating bed and pressing the substrate against theinclined surface by pressing a plurality of points on the circumferenceon the upper side during the rotation.
 2. The substrate holdingapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the points on the upper sidepressed by the position restriction unit are lower than the points onthe upper side pressed by the pressing unit.
 3. The substrate holdingapparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the angle formed by acontact surface of the position restriction unit pressing the upper sideand the rotation axis, which is equal to or smaller than 90°, is smallerthan the angle formed by a contact surface of the pressing unit pressingthe upper side and the rotation axis, which is equal to or smaller than90°.
 4. The substrate holding apparatus according to claim 1, whereinthe plurality of points on the upper side pressed by the positionrestriction unit are disposed on the circumference at even intervals,and the plurality of points on the upper side pressed by the pressingunit are disposed on the circumference at even intervals.
 5. Thesubstrate holding apparatus according to any one of claims 1, 2 or 4,wherein the pressing unit comprises a pressing movable piece which movesby centrifugal force occurring by rotation, and presses the substrateagainst the inclined surface by the movement of the pressing movablepiece.
 6. The substrate holding apparatus according to claim 5, whereinthe pressing unit comprises a pressing elastic body, by initiation ofthe rotation, the pressing movable piece is advanced by the centrifugalforce while opposing the pressing elastic body to press the substrateagainst the inclined surface, and by stoppage of the rotation, thepressing elastic body makes the pressing movable piece back to releasethe pressing of the substrate.
 7. An inspection apparatus, forperforming inspection of a substrate while rotating the substrate, theinspection apparatus comprising a substrate holding apparatuscomprising: a rotating bed including an inclined surface for supportinga lower side of an outer circumferential side surface of a substrate,the rotating bed rotating on a normal line of the substrate as arotation axis together with the substrate; a position restriction unitrotating together with the rotating bed and restricting the substrate ina predetermined position on the rotating bed by pressing a plurality ofpoints on the circumference on an upper side of the outercircumferential side surface of the substrate prior to the rotation; anda pressing unit rotating together with the rotating bed and pressing thesubstrate against the inclined surface by pressing a plurality of pointson the circumference on the upper side during the rotation.
 8. Aprocessing apparatus for performing processing of a substrate whilerotating the substrate, the processing apparatus comprising a substrateholding apparatus comprising: a rotating bed including an inclinedsurface for supporting a lower side of an outer circumferential sidesurface of a substrate, the rotating bed rotating on a normal line ofthe substrate as a rotation axis together with the substrate; a positionrestriction unit rotating together with the rotating bed and restrictingthe substrate in a predetermined position on the rotating bed bypressing a plurality of points on the circumference on an upper side ofthe outer circumferential side surface of the substrate prior to therotation; and a pressing unit rotating together with the rotating bedand pressing the substrate against the inclined surface by pressing aplurality of points on the circumference on the upper side during therotation.